Knitted hosiery.



No. 789,635. a PATENTED MAY 9, 1905.

R; W. SGOTT.

KNITTED HOSIERY.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 18. 1904. 2 SEEETS+SHEBT 1.

No. 789,635. Patented May 9, 1905.

UNITED STATEs PATENT Orricn,

ROBERT W SCOTT, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO LOUIS N. D. WILLIAMS, OF OGONTZ, PENNSYLVANIA.

KNITTED HOSIERY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 789,635, dated May 9, 1905.

Application filed April 18, 1904. Serial No. 203,709.

all wiwm it y 00712067? needles of the machine having the stitches Be it known that I, ROBERTVV. SooTT,aciticast from them. The heel-strips are knitted 5 zen of the United States, residing in Philadelof uniform width down to the point where the phia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Imrounding of the heel is to be effected, whereprovements in Knitted Hosiery and in the upon each of the strips is narrowed to the de- Manufacture of the Same, of which the folsired extent by transferring stitches from nee- ]owing is a specification. dle to needle in the same manner as when nar- The object of my invention is to provide a rowing for the calf portion of the stocking. shaped or fashioned sock or stocking which WVhcn the knitting of the heel-strips has been IO will dispense with the greater portion of the completed, they are cast from the needles, seaming or sewing operations necessary in the and the selvaged inner edges of the heel-strips production of an ordinary full-fashioned sock are run upon the outermost needles of a sepa- V or stocking and which, moreover, can be made, rate machine known as a footing-machine, in a simpler and cheaper manner than usual, the intermediate needles of this machine re- 5 beingsuseeptible of manufacture by a continceiving the loops around the instep portion nous operation upon asingle machine, thereby of the leg-web which were thrown from the avoiding the expense of transfer operations, needles of the leg-machine when the formasuch as are necessary when more than one tion of the heel-strips was begun. The footmachine is employed in the fabrication of the web is then knitted upon the needles of the 20 stocking-blank. second machine, the web being narrowed at In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 each side to form the desired instep-gussets is a view of the foot and part of the leg of a and being also narrowed at the toe, so as to 7 stocking made in accordance with my invenproperly round the same. This method of tion. Figs. 2, 3, 4t, 5, 6, and 7 are views showmanufacture is a slow and tedious operation, 5 ing diagrams or needle plans of a machine for necessitating the use of expensive machinery producing such sock or stocking, and Figs. 8 and the highest class of skilled labor to opand 9 are views representing intermediate erate it and necessitating, further, expensive stages of formation of the stocking. sewing or seamingoperations to complete the It may be well to state at the outset that in stocking, because as the stockingblank is 3 knittingaso-called full-fashionedstocking knitted in the form of a flat web it is necesit is customary to commence the knitting at sary to unite the edges of this web by a scam the widest portion of the leg, the knitting beextending down the back of the leg, calf, an- 8 ing performed upon flat machines having kle, and heel and by another seam extending spring-beard needles and the strip being knitunder the bottom of the toe, foot, and heel, 35 ted of a uniform width until the calf portion these seams being objectionable, not only beis reached, whereupon the strip is narrowed cause of the expense of making them, but also by the transferring of stitches from the end because they detract from the proper fit and 5 needles on both sides of the machine toward comfortable use of the stocking. the center of the fabric nntil said fabric has Of course I no not mean to imply that othe 4 been snfiiciently narrowed for the ankle por-' methods of making fashioned stockings ha tion of the stocking, the latter being then not been devised; but the method which i knitted of uniform width until the formation have just described is the one generally used of the heel is necessary. At this j unctnre two both in this country and abroad in the fabriyarn-gnides are thrown into action, one emcation of what are termed in the trade full- 45 ployed for knitting a projecting heel-piece at fashioned stockings.

one side of the ankle-web and the other for In carrying out my invention I form the knitting a corresponding heel-piece at the opstocking-blank by a continuous operation upon 9 H posite side of said ankle-web, the intervening a single machine, and. I effect the desired shaping or fashioning of the web without the necessity of using transfer-points for transferring stitches from needle to needle or filling up points for transferring a previouslyformed stitch of the knitted web to a naked needle, the use of such transfer or filling points being objectionable because of the reduction in the capacity of the machine, since the knitting operation must be arrested while such points are in operation.

My improved stocking (shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings) has a shaped calf 1, a square heel 3 with rounded lower corner 1, instepgussets 5, a seam 6 across the front of the toe, and a seam 7where the front of each heel-strip is united to the rear end of the sole portion of the foot; but the stocking is otherwise seamless. The stocking has borderingwales 2 on each side of a central line running from the point of the toe under the toe and foot and up the back of the heel, ankle, calf, and leg of the stocking, and in its preferable form the fashioning or shaping of the different parts of the stocking is effected by a widening operation, the various wideningwales being introduced between the standing wales of the fabric and the bordering-wales. The knitting of the web is commenced at the toe, and the machine employed for the proceptible of movement longitudinally along the needle-beds l0, and the needles or some of the needles of the latter are so controlled that they can be moved into and out of operative position and when moved from operative to inoperative position may be caused to retain their stitches or cast their stitches, as desired. In starting the knitting operation only the needles 10 from a to a will be in operation, together with the needles 11, as shown in Fig. 2, and the yarn-guide will travel in a continuous course about these needles-that is to say, it will pass to the right along one needle-bed and then across to the other needle-bed, pass to the left along the latter, and then across to the first needle-bed, and continue as before. The result of this opera tion will be to produce a narrow band oflstanding wales 12 at the top of the toe, "having on each side a band of borderingwales 2. As soon as the knitting begins, however, the bars 11 are racked in the direction of the arrow :20, Fig. 2, to the extent of one needle at a time, and needles 10 are successively brought into action at each end of the set of needles a to until the full amount of widening for the toe has been effected, by which time the relation of the borderingduction of the fabric is provided with two represented in Fig. 3, the needles of each bed from a to 5 being in action. The widening-wales are preferably introduced in such a manner as to prevent the formation of eyeletholes, as shown, for instance, in my Patent No. l 61 1,3 19, dated November 15, 1898, and in subsequentapplications. Thetoeis thus produced \wale needles to the needles 10 will be that in the form of a properly shaped or fashioned but seamless tubular web, and the knitting of such seamless tubular Web of uniform width for the foot of the stocking now proceeds until the point is reached at which it is desired to introduce the instep-gussets 5, whereupon there is a further intermittent racking out of the bordering-needles 11 and a further introduction of successive needles 10 of each bed until the desired width of gusset has been formed, the relation of the bordering-Wale needles to the needles 10 being that shown in Fig. 4 and the needles 10 from a to d of each bed being in operation. The needles 10 of each bed from a to c, Fig. 1, are now put out of action, but permitted to retain their stitches, and tubular web is produced upon the needles from 0 to (Z and upon the bordering-needles. This method of knitting is continued until a few courses of stitch es have been knitted upon these needles, such as shown at 13 in Fig. 8. The needles 10 from d to a, Fig. 4c, and the bordering-needles are now caused to cast their stitches, and the bordering needles 11 are racked in to the point e, as shown in Fig. 5. Both sets of needles 10 and 11 are then projected and a single course of stitches is formed upon said needles by feeding the knitting-yarn for such course to the needles of both beds prior to the knitting of a tubular web upon the needles from c to e and upon the bordering-needles. This web is gradually increased in diameter by introducing needles 10 in succession beyond the point e and racking out the bordering-needles 11 correspondingly until the desired shaping of the web for the corner of the heel has been effected-say until the needles from c to f, Fig. 6, have been brought into actionwhereupon the knitting of the tubular web is continued upon the needles from 0 to f and upon the bordering-needles until a web of the desired depth for the heel of the stocking has been produced. 1f the stocking-web is now removed from the needles of the machine, it will present the appearance shown in Fig. 8, the tubular foot-web having projecting from its lower half a contracted tubular web 13, from which projects a shaped tubular heel-web 14, said web being closed at its junction with the web 13 and a partial course of stitches 15 being presented around the lower half of said web 13. Owing, however, to the fact that the stitches have notbeen cast from the needles from a to 0, the courses of stitches constituting the web 13 and the heel-web 1 1 will in actual practice be crowded or pocketed between the two needle-beds. Hence if the needles from a to c are now again brought into action the production of seamless tubular web for the ankle portion of the stocking will be effected, the relation of the bordering-needles 11 to the needles 10 being that represented in Fig. 6. \Nhen the desired length of ankle-tube has een knitted, needles 1O beyond the points f are successively brought into action and the bordering-needles are racked outwardly until the desired widening of the seamless tubular web for the calf portion of the stocking has been effected-say until the needles 10 from a to g, Fig. 7, are in operationwhereupon the knitting of seamless tubular web upon the needles 10 from a to g and upon the herdering-needles 11 is continued until the desired length of tube for the stocking-leg has been produced, whereupon all of the needles 10 from a to g, Fig. 7, are thrown out of action and caused to cast their stitches, the bordering-needles 11 are racked in to the point a, and the production of another stocking-web in the same manner as before is begun. After the completion of the stocking-blank in the manner described the web 13 is severed on the line 10w, Fig. 8. as are also the stitches 16 of the webs 13 and l t, the blank being now in the condition shown in Fig. 9. The stitches of the web 13 which extend around the rear end of the sole portion of the foot-tube are then run upon the needles of a looping-machine, together with the stitches at the severed edges 17 of the heel-web, so as to unite the heel to the sole by the side seams 7. The stitches of the web 13 which project beyond the closed bottom of the heel are then raveled out, after which all that remains in order to complete the stocking is to unite the edges of the web across the front of the toe, as shown at 6 in Fig. 1.

The purpose of casting the stitches from certain of the needles 10 and the borderingneedles and racking in the bordering-needles 11 before beginning to knit the heel-web is to effect a narrowing of the ankle portion of the stocking, it being desirable that this portion of the stocking shall not be of as large diameter as the gusseted or widened rear portion of the foot of the stocking. Of course if the narrowing of the ankle in respect to the gusseted portion of the foot is not desired the retiring of the needles from cl to e and the racking in of the bordering-needles before beginning the knitting of the heel-web need not be resorted to;

Instead of forming the heel-web as part of the continuous web in the manner described all of the stitches from to (Z may be cast ofl of the needles after completing the forma tion of the web 13. The bordering-needles may then be racked in to the point e and the knitting of a heel-web upon the needles from c'to a and upon the bordering-needles may be proceeded with by first forming a settingup or closing course for the bottom of the heel by forming stitches upon both sets of needles 10 and 11 and these proceeding with the formation of the tubular heel-web, this web being shaped as before until the desired widening of the web has been effected and the knitting of the web being then continued until the proper length for the heel has been produced, whereupon the needles from a to c are restored to action and the knitting of the ankle-web proceeded with.

It will be noticed in reference to Fig. 1 that the fashioning of the toe is effected by a single group of parallel shaping-wales on each side of the same, these shaping-wales being introduced in quick succession, so as to impart the desired sharp rounding to the toe, all of the shaping-wales of each group running to or starting from the bordering-wales 2 at the bottom of the foot.

It will be evident that a stocking such as I have shown and described can be produced by a continuous operation, and hence more speedil y than by the ordinary method of production hereinbefore referred to, while the fact that it is a relatively easy task to render automatic the machine for the production of the stockings lessens the labor cost of the latter, and thus adds this advantage to the greater rapidity of production. Furthermore, the fact that the stocking is largely seamless materially reduces its cost by rendering unnecessary the relatively expensive seaming operations necessary for closing the bottom of the toe, foot, and heel and the back of the heel, ankle, calf, and leg of an ordinary full-fashioned stocking.

The front edges of the heel-web 14 produced in the manner described will be unselvagedthat is to say, they will present raw edges caused by the severing of the sinker-wales 16 of the tubular web 14, constituting the heelblank; but if it is desired to form a heel-blank with selvaged front edges this may be readily effected by traversing the yarn-guides successively forward and back along each needlebed, crossing at one end only, and a selvaged web 13 can, if desired, be formed in the same manner.

Although I prefer in carrying out my invention to start the knitting of the stockingweb at the toe and to fashion the web by widening in the manner described, certain features of my invention may be embodied in a stocking produced by a reversal of such processthat is to say, by starting the web at the top of the leg by knitting upon the needles 10 from a to g and upon the bordering-needles 11 to produce a seamless tube of the proper diameter for the leg, narrowing at the calf by causing the needles 10 from g to f to successively cast their stitches onto the adjacent bordering-needles and racking in the border- IIO f to e to shape the corner ing-needles correspondingly, then knitting the seamless ankle portion of the stocking, then throwing out of action, but causing to retain their stitches, the needles from a to 0 and knitting the heel-web upon the needles from 0 to f and the bordering-needles, narrowing in the manner before described from of the heel, forming a course upon both sets of needles from c to (2 and upon the needles 11 to close the bottom of the heel, racking out the borderingneedles to d, producing the web 13 upon said needles and upon the needles 10 from cto d, then bringing into action the needles 10 from a to 0 and producing a seamless tubular web for the foot, narrowing to form the instep-gussets and toe, and then racking the bordering-needles out to the point 9 again preparatory to a repetition of the operation, some form of web-holder being employed in this case in order to permit of the starting of the knitting upon naked needles. The machine may, if desired, be provided with a plurality of yarnfeeds for the purpose of facilitating production or permitting the use of yarns of different color or material in the stocking when desired.

The width of the central band of standing wales of the stocking-blank is preferably twice the width of each of the groups of borderingwales, so that said standing wales will equal the width of the two sets of bordering-wales, and thus provide for the proper formation of the seam 6 across the toe. In the production of half-hose, where the fashioned calf is unnecessary, the ankle portion of the web will be knitted of such length as may be necessary for the subsequent attachment thereto of a ribbed top or a ribbed leg.

Although the borderingwales produced upon the needles 11 extend throughout the bottom of the toe and foot, throughout the shaped corner of the heel, and throughout the rear of the heel, ankle, calf, and leg of the stocking and are so described in some of the claims, the only portions of the stocking in which such bordering-wales are distinguishable from the standing wales are the shaped portions.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. A sock or stocking having a toe fashioned by a single group of shaping-wales on each side of the same.

2. A sock or stocking havinga toe fashioned by a single group of parallel shaping-wales on each side of the same.

3. A sock or stocking having a toe with central bordering-wales at the bottom, and a single group of shaping-wales interposed on each side of the toe between said bordering-wales and central standing wales at the top of the toe.

4. A seek or stocking havinga toe with central bordering-wales at the bottom, and a single group of parallel shaping-wales interposed on each side of the toe between said bordering-wales and central standing wales at the top of the toe.

5. A sock or stocking having a toe with a central top group of standing wales, bottorr bordering wales substantially equaling ir width said top group of standing wales, ard a single group of shapingwales interposed on each side of the toe between said standing wales and the bordering-wales, the front ends of the bordering-wales being secured to the front ends of the standing wales across the front of the toe.

6. A sock or stocking having a seamless tubular foot and a toe fashioned by a single group of shaping-wales on each side of the same.

7. A sock or stocking having a seamless tubular foot and a toe fashioned by a single group of parallel shaping-wales on each side of the same.

8. A sock or stocking having a seamless tubular foot and a toe with central borderingwales at the bottom, and a single group of shaping-wales interposed on each side of the toe between said bordering-wales and central standing wales at the top of the toe.

9. A seek or stocking having a seamless tubular foot and a toe with central borderingwales at the bottom, and a single group of parallel shaping-wales interposed on each side of the toe between said. bordering-wales and central standing wales at the top of the toe.

10. A sock or stocking having a seamless tubular foot and a toe with a central top group of standing wales,bottom bordering-wales substantially equaling in width said top group of standing wales, and a single group of shapingwales interposed on each side of the toe between said standing wales and the borderingwales, the front ends of the bordering-wales being secured to the front ends of the standing wales across the front of the toe.

11. A sock or stocking having rectangular heel with shaped corner having borderingwales on each side, the rear portion of the heel and its shaped corner being seamless, and the heel having unselvaged front edges which are united to the lower portion of the foot.

12. A sock or stocking having a rectangular heel shaped at the corner, and seamless throughout,and having unselvaged front edges secured to the lower portion ofatubular seamless foot-web, the shaped corner of the heel also having bordering-wales on each side.

13. A sock or stocking having a seamless tubular ankle and foot, a fashioned toe, a rectangular heel with fashioned corner, and centrally disposed bordering wales extending throughout the bottom of the toe and foot, and throughout the shaped corner and rear of the heel and ankle.

14:. A sock or stocking having a seamless tubular ankle and foot, a fashioned toe, a rectangular heel with fashioned corner, and unselvaged front edges secured to the lower portion of the foot, and centrally-disposed bordering-wales extending throughout the bottom of the toe and foot, and throughout the shaped corner and rear of the heel and ankle.

15. A stocking having a tubular seamless foot with fashioned toe, a tubular seamless ankle, calf and leg, a rectangular heel with shaped corner, and centrally-disposed bordering-wales extending throughout the bottom of the toe and foot, throughout the shaped cor-- ner and rear of the heel and throughout the rear of the ankle, calf and leg portion of the stocking.

16. A stocking having a tubular seamless foot with fashioned toe, a tubular seamless ankle, calf and leg, a rectangular heel with shaped corner, and unselvaged front edges secured to the lower portion of the foot, and centrally-disposed bordering-wales extending throughout the bottom of the toe and foot, throughout the shaped corner and rear of the heel and throughout the rear of the ankle, calf and leg portions of the stocking.

17. A sock or stocking having a rectangular heel with shaped corner, the rear portion of the heel and its shaped corner being seamless and provided with centrally-disposed bordering-wales.

18. A sock or stocking having a rectangular heel with shaped corner, the rear portion of the heel and its shaped corner being seamless and provided with centrally-disposed bordering-wales, and the front edges of the heel being unselvaged and secured to the lower portion of the foot.

19. A sock or stocking having a rectangular heel seamless throughout, and having a shaped corner, the rear portion of the heel and shaped corner being provided with centrallydisposed bordering-wales.

20. A seek or stocking having a rectangular heel seamless throughout, and having a shaped corner, the rear portion of the heel and its shaped cor'ner'being provided with centrally-disposed bordering-wales, and the front edges of the heel being unselvaged and secured to the lower portion of the foot.

21. The modeherein described of producing a sock or stocking, said mode consisting in knitting upon two sets of needles a seamless tubular foot-web, then throwing out of action, but permitting to retain their stitches, certain of the needles of each set, then knitting upon remaining needles of each set of a heel-web with seamless back, introducing successively additional needles to shape the corner of said web, then restoring to action the needles previously thrown out of action, and then knitting upon the same and upon the heeling-needles a seamless tubular ankle-web.

22. The mode herein described of producing a seek or stocking, said mode consisting in knitting upon two sets of needles a seamless tubular foot-web, then throwing out of action, but permitting to retain their stitches, certain of the needles of each set, then knitting a heel-Web upon the remaining needles of each set by first forming a setting-up course upon certain of each set of needles, and then knitting upon these needles and upon successivelyintroduced needles beyond the same, a heelweb with shaped and seamless corner and seamless back, then restoring to action the needles previously thrown out of action, and knitting upon these needles and the heelingneedles a seamless tubular ankle-web.

23. The modeherein described of producing a seek or stocking, said mode consisting in first knitting upon two sets of standing-Wale needles and cooperating bordering-Wale needles a seamless tubular foot-web, then throwing out of action, but permitting to retain their stitches, certain of said standing-Wale needles of each set, then knitting upon remaining standing-Wale needles and upon the bordering-Wale needles a heel-web with seamless back, introducing successively additional standing-Wale needles to shape the corner of said web, then restoring to action the standing-Wale needles formerly thrown out of action, and knitting upon said standing-Wale needles and upon the remaining standingwale needles and bordering-Wale needles a seamless tubular ankle-web.

24. The modeherein described of producing a sock or stocking, said mode consisting in first knitting upon two sets of standing-Wale v needles and cooperating bordering-Wale needles a seamless tubular foot-web, then throwing out of action certain of said standingwale needles in each set, but permitting them to retain their stitches, then forming a setting-up course of stitches upon remaining standing-Wale needles of each set and their cooperating borde ring-Wale needles, then knitting upon said standing-Wale needles and bordering-Wale needles a heel-web with seamless back, introducing successively additional standing-Wale needles to shape the corner of said web, then restoring to action the standingwale needles formerly thrown out of action, and then knitting upon the two sets of standing-Wale needles and the cooperating bordering-Wale needles atubular seamless ankle-web.

25. The mode herein described of knitting a heel-web for a sock or stocking, said mode consisting in first forming a setting-up course by feeding the knitting-yarn for such course to opposite sets of standing-Wale needles and cooperating bordering-Wale needles, then knitting round and round upon said needles to produce a tubular heel-web, and introducing successively, additional standing-Wale needles to shape the corner of said web, and then severing the stitches which unite theiront portions of said heel-web.

26. The mode herein described of producing a sock or stocking, said mode consisting in first knitting upon two sets of standing-wale needles and cooperative bordering-wale needles a seamless tubular foot web, throwing out of action, certain standing-wale needles of each set, but permitting them to retain their stitches, then knitting round and round upon remaining standing-wale needles and the bordering-wale needles to form a tubular heel-web, introducing successively additional standing-wale needles to shape the corner of said web, then restoring to action the standing-wale needles before thrown out of action, and then knitting upon said standingwale needles and upon theheeling-needles and cooperating bordering-wale needles a seamless tubular ankle-Web, and then severing the heel-web at the front so as to form unselvaged front edges and then securing the latter to the bottom portion of the foot.

27. The modeherein described of producing a sock or stocking, said mode consisting in first forming upon two sets of standing-wale needles and cooperating bordering-wale needles a seamless tubular foot-Web, then throwing out of action, but permitting to retain their stitches, certain needles of each set of standingwale needles, then forming a setting-up course upon remaining standing-wale needles of each set and the cooperating bordering-wale needles, then knitting round and round upon said needles to form a tubular heel-web, introducing successively additional standing-wale needles to shape the corner of said web, then restoring the standing-wale needles previously thrown out of action, then knitting round and round upon the said needles and upon the heeling-needles to produce a seamless tubular ankle-web, then severing the stitches at the front of the heel-web and then uniting said front edges to the bottom of the foot-web.

28-. The mode herein described of producing a sock or stocking, said mode consisting in first knitting upon two sets of standing-wale needles and cooperating bordering-wale needles a seamless tubular foot-web, then throwing out of action, but permitting to retain their stitches, certain of said standing-wale needles of each set, and also casting the stitches from certain of the standing-wale needles of each set adjoining the bordering-wale needles, causing said bordering-wale needles to cooperate with the remaining standing-wale needles to produce a heel-web with seamless back, introducing successively additional standing-wale needles to shape the corner of said web, then restoring to action the standing-wale needles which retained theirstitches,and knitting upon the standing-wale needles and bordering-wale needles a seamless tubular ankle-web.

29. The mode herein described of producing a sock or stocking, said mode consisting in knitting upon two sets of standing-wale nee dles and cooperating bordering-wale needles a seamless tubular foot-web, then throwingout of action, but permitting to retain their stitches, certain of the standing-wale needles of each set, casting the stitches from a number of standing-wale needles of each set adjoining the hordering-wale needles, causing said bordering-wale needles to cooperate with the remaining standing-wale needles, and forming a setting-up course of stitches by feeding the knitting-yarn for said course to all of the needles of both sets remaining in action, then knitting upon said needles a heelweb with seamless back, introducing successively additional standing wale needles to shape the corner of said'web, then restoring to action the standing-wale needles which retained their stitches,and then knitting upon the standing-wale needles and cooperating bordering-wale needles a tubular seamless ankle-web.

30. The mode herein described of producing a sock or stocking, said mode consisting in first knitting upon two sets of standing-wale needles and cooperating bordering-wale needles a seamless tubular foot-web, then throwing out of action, but permitting to retain their stitches, certain of said standing-wale needles of each set, casting the stitches from certain of the standing-wale needles of each set adjoining the bordering wale needles, causing said bordering-wale needles to cooperate with the remaining standing-Wale needles, knitting round and round upon said needles remaining in action to form a tubular heel-web, introducing successively additional standing-wale needles to shape the corner of said web, then restoring to action the standing-wale needles which retained their stitches, and forming upon the standing-wale needles and cooperating bordering-wale needles a seamless tubular ankle-web, and then severing the front of the tubular heel-web so as to form unselvaged front edges thereon.

31. The mode herein described of producing a sock or stocking, said mode consisting in first knitting upon two sets of standing-wale needles and cooperating bordering-wale needles a seamless tubular foot-web, then throwing out of action certain of said standing-wale needles in each set, but permitting them to retain their stitches, casting stitches from certain of the standing-wale needles of each set which adjoin the bordering wale needles, causing said bordering-wale needles to cooperate with the remaining standing-wale needles, forming a setting-up course of stitches by feeding the knitting-yarn for said course to all of the needles of both sets remaining in action, .then knitting round and round upon said needles to produce a tubular seamless heel-web, introducing successively additional standing-Wale needles to shape the cor- In testimony whereof I have signed my name ner of said Web, then restoring to action the to this specification in the presence of tWo sub- IO standing-Wale needles Whiclh retained their scribing Witnesses.

stitc les, then .knittingupon t 1e standing-Wale x v needles and bordering-Wale needles a tubular ROBERT SL011" seamless ankle- Web, and then severing the WVitnesses:

stitches at the front of the tubular heel-Web -WAL TER OHISM,

to form unselvaged front edges thereon. J os. H. KLEIN. 

